January 28, Friday, 2022 (1:30 p.m.) Newsline read by Mr. Yamaguchi Hiroaki

1.Police have arrested a man who was holed up in his house with a gun for eleven hours in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo. The individual had taken a doctor hostage the day before. The 44-year-old doctor was the man’s family physician. He was taken to a hospital and confirmed dead there.
2.The Japanese government is thinking about shortening the self-quarantine period for people who have been in close contact with those infected with the Omicron variant from the current 10 days to around one week. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said in a TV program on Thursday night “the government is trying to cut the self-quarantine period as much as possible, while taking the characteristics of Omicron into account.”
3.Japanese police sources say a 19-year-old college student has admitted to using a smartphone to cheat on a recent standardized university entrance exam. The student, who lives in Osaka Prefecture, turned herself in at a police station in Kagawa Prefecture, western Japan, on Thursday. She said she saw news about the case and, after consulting her mother, decided to contact the police.